In his debut novel ´The Kite Runner´ Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan, seems to want to remind us readers around the world that the Afghanistan that we see on the news is not a true portrayal of the culture rich country.
The novel follows the life of Amir, an upper-class Afghan who grew up in Afghanistan and who later moved to the United States during the Soviet invasion. Although the narrator and protagonist of the novel, Amir´s life is not the sole aspect of the novel but instead it is his relationship with his servant Hassan and the consequences of that which leads the narrative and the plot. We are shown how Amir and Hassan grew up as the best of friends almost as brothers who “fed from the same breast” (Hosseini, 2005, p.11). Yet during the kite running competition which is the highlight of every Afghan child’s winter, Amir´s happiness of winning the competition is overshadowed by the fact that Hassan gets raped. Not only acting as a reminder of the ethnic discrimination between Pashtuns and Hazaras the rape is also the catalyst in the novel which ultimately sends Amir on a journey of reconciliation and redemption after many years
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Beliefnet. Web. http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/2007/12/The-Kite-Runner-Soars-Into-Theaters.aspx?p=1). This idea could have been given to us as readers in a very cold and factual way yet the intriguing relationship between Amir and Hassan makes for a thrilling ride as we not only learn more about the importance of friendship but also of how intrinsically linked we are to the culture from our childhood. And even though Hosseini writes of violence, it is still poignantly tinged with the reminder that although Afghanistan may be like this right now, it has and can again be a country full of culture and